A short rant….maybe…ok, not really…

Really, I just get too tired anymore to care about politics. I have people in my office asking my opinion about different people and issues because I always stayed up to date on them….well, lately I’ve been cutting back, ignoring the news again, avoiding the political speeches, and staying out of political discussions at work…so, I’m trying to avoid posting about it here…. I know I jump all over the topics when I post and I’m going to try to get a handle on that too…I use to be a very relaxed, no stress, no worries person….that person is coming back and it feels good…I’ve even had some people in my office ask if I was "smoking up" before work….no I haven’t…I never touch the stuff…but that’s who I was, and who I’m trying to be again. 

 

So, what does this mean for my interactions with the site? Well, the slower rate at which I’m blogging means I have much less stuff to vent… that’s a good thing….so I’m debating using this blog to track something new….

 

 

And to answer Snuphy’s question on my last blog, no I don’t have anything fermenting at the moment….but…..

Since Snuphy has helped renew my old hobby of home brewing beer, I’ve started looking to writing up a new recipe…I’m tempted to call it 2old2 Brew, but I think I want to make sure it’s good first….Since my Father is currently using all of my gear for his wine making operation it may take a bit to get set up again….but I will probably be starting off a bit small….with the first batch being 22gal….fermenting and racking down to about 19gal….that will be about 200 bottles if I remember my brewers math….maybe less if I filter….which reminds me I need a new filter (assuming I will filter), and a new cooling coil…

 

So…what kind of recipe should I write?

 

Pilsner- I like to filter pilsner since you are normally looking for a lighter cold beer with a clear color, the home brew pilsners have a bit more body to them than the store bought…but it is that way with most of the beers when you operate in a small batch.

Ale – I don’t filter my ales, normally drink them at about 55degrees, not filtering brings out a better flavor.

Porter- I’m on the fence as to filtering Porters, they are heavy enough on their own, and it wouldn’t be noticeable though not filtering might leave a residue on the bottom of the bottles. If you know beers, that won’t bother you, but it’s not a very pleasant site for the non-pro beer drinker.  I tend to lean more towards a coffee flavor when working Porters, I find that, for home brewing, it works better to clean up the after taste.

German Brown Ale - this was my specialty, but not many people could stomach it….when we had Polish friends visiting they drank an entire batch between the 2 of them over 2 days and are still talking about how much they loved it….this beer is a deep brown color, and like porter, is more like drinking a meal and has about as many carbs in a bottle as half a loaf of bread….

Bock- one of my favorites to drink, shouldn't need any kind of filtering, a simple clearifying fermentation/multiple racking should do fine. a fair colored beer with a full but not overwhelming flavor.

Flavored beers-I hate flavored beers, but they are a fairly simple alteration from a standard recipe…so if you want a light apricot and strawberry lager to potentially be named after 2old2play….so be it.

 

 

And @Snuphy, make sure you sanitize, dry, and re-rinse your bottles before you start bottling, the last thing you want is to have even a single bottle spoil because a fruit fly found it’s way into the bottle….especially if you plan on giving out any bottles to friends.

 

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